How to keep mind and body intact when surrounded by intense emotional and psychological pressures is at the compassionate heart of On The Edge which follows liaison psychiatrist Dr Jamal Abdel Kader and his colleagues as they offer care and support to patients from the emergency room to the intensive care unit.
Selected for Cannes Acid after its world premiere at CPH:DOX in March, Nicolas Peduzzi’s immersive documentary places the camera very much alongside – and in the face of – Jamal as he navigates the often teeming corridors of a hospital in Beaujon (Paris), battling a lack of resources. All the time he tries to do the right thing for his patients as he goes about alleviating their suffering and finding solutions for their emotional, physical and mental distress.
The broad subtext of the film is quite simply the question of how you can provide adequate care within a system that is, itself, on its knees.
On The Edge opens in a hectic hospital corridor where police are watching over a man who has been acting aggressively. They have been there more than five hours and when Jamal is finally called he tries to broker a peace of sorts between the frustrated police and the man whom the doctor believes has feigned hanging.
Working alongside interns and other hospital staff, Jamal sets about immersing himself within the lives of his patients, often balancing bluntness with gentle reassurance, and spending as much time with families of the patients, acting both as mediator and support. All this is set against the backdrop of a bustling and fast-paced hospital environment where overcrowded corridors, hasty conversations and the cries of patients demand continual attention.
Jamal and his interns set about creating space and time for their patients. He also makes sure he has both time and energy for colleagues during the period of Covid, especially when they feel the need to open up to him about their problems. The film also includes the voices of Romain, a caregiver; Alice and Lara, the interns who assist him on a daily basis, and Ayman, a former patient who has become a trainee.
As Peduzzi’s director statement astutely points out when talking about his colleagues: “All of them share the same vocation and speak of their love of providing care, but also of their vertigo when faced with the suffering of patients, their own discomfort, their doubts and their aspirations.”
The patients in the film are many and varied. Jamal tries to broker a peace between a drug-addicted woman (who fell from a bridge, was hit by a tram and lost both legs and part of her forearm) and her intransigent sisters. He aims to help a woman scared of going back home to live in Maastricht because of her mother (“it’s not good for me and for my health” she says), and who therefore wants to remain within the local church, and a distraught man who attempted suicide. There is also powerful audio of the team telling a highly agitated patient he will have to be restrained, presented alongside evocative black and white visuals.
This distressing but oddly mesmerising journey with Jamal can often be challenging, but what shines through is his honest determination to do his best for his patients, always offering open and astute advice despite his understandable exhaustion – his job is incredibly stressful but he never doubts his vocation. On The Edge is as powerful as its subject matter is grim, with Peduzzi clearly gaining the confidence and support of his subjects as he delivers a remarkably compassionate and inspiring documentary.
France, 2023, 93mins
Dir: Nicolas Peduzzi
Production: GoGoGo Films, ARTE France
International sales: Lightdox
Producer: Carine Ruszniewski
Editor: Nicola Subrlati
Music: Gaël Rakotondrabe
With: Jamal Abdel Kader, Alice Abbou, Romain Maronier, Lara Naturel, Ayman Zaoui
